Siberian Husky off lead walking??? Controversial

Sadly this is all too common. People need to take the time to train their dogs before allowing them off lead regardless of breed. I'd imagine that husky would have been very frustrated seeing other dogs running around and playing whilst he is stuck in the tennis courts, I would have bet money on that dog running off.

I am the idiot with the Afghans

Yes I used to run at least 4 Affies loose but I did have at least 2 hours to catch them. The Affie I own at present I would not let off lead anywhere other than in a safely fenced area - she would be off back to Afghanistan before I had drawn breath. A lot of Affies are raced and even then they are fun to catch!!

Anne if you have rehomed Afghans to novices and told them that you can teach them recall sigh:-( I would never tell anyone that an Afghan can be safeley let off some can and some cant. I had one that even at the young age of 14 weeks would have legged it whereas her litter brother never left my side.

Sue

Completely agree

Again I agree :smt001

Another excellent post :smt001

I completely agree with Bluesandtwos here - research proved that 14 Breeds had a gentetic fingerprint far similar to wolves than the rest of the dogs in the study.

Unsuprisingly these 14 included the Siberian Husky, the Alaskan Malamute, the Samoyed along with others such as the Shar-Pei and the Saluki ;-)

Therefore there is a difference in the gentic makeup of these breeds and other dogs.

I'm so sick of hearing the people that have never 'OWNED' a primitive, prey driven breed, say that it's all down to the training.

Well.........."NEWS FLASH"

These dogs carry heavy instinctual traits, that CANNOT be trained OUT of them. Why on earth can't people understand this.

I recently spoke to a man who is one of the top behaviourist dog trainers in Australia, and his Centre trains police dogs, army dogs, bomb disposal dogs etc, and he charges a FORTUNE for his services. This comes with a 100 % guarantee of success with his programme, EXCEPT for 'Primitive breeds' and 'Spitz breeds'.....

WHY ????

Because he knows better.

If being selfish, means I want my dogs to stay alive, then I am selfish to the core

Interestingly, Afghans are also listed as one of the 14 "Ancient" breeds I mentioned above ;-)

Any responsible owner would walk their dog off lead in a dog-friendly park, not one where they have to be kept on lead

I'd imagine they're frustrated at being confined to the tennis court, can you honestly not see this? obviously I'm not saying without recall training first you should just let them out.

So lets get this straight then Lisa, Helping Hounds and Anne.

ALL dogs can be trained for a 100% perfect recall 100% of the time. No exceptions, and it includes Huskies and Afghans (Lisa)

None of you would rehome a dog to anyone who considers the safety of their Husky more important than a free run in a public area?

All of you are far more experienced Husky owners and trainers than anyone on here, and more importantly, feel that all the authoritive figures, exhibitors, breeders, owners and workers of Huskies in the UK, are treating their dogs badly by NOT running them freely?

And....

Lisa, Helping Hounds, do either of you own a Husky? If not, what "experience" do you have that qualified you to make such sweeping statments about a breed you have no living knowledge of?

How many of you 100% know for sure, as I asked before but it wasnt answered properly, that ALL of the dogs you rehome are allowed free running for a minimum of 1hr each day (Lisa) or ANY free running at all, and that NONE have ever come to grief or caused problems when being loose. Do you think its possible that people who have had dogs from you do not give you a day to day run down of everything their dogs do all their lives, because they have lives themselves? and you really could not know what each person does with the dogs once they have left you, especially those who have had dogs some length of time?

I would rather have a frustrated dog than a DEAD one !

I can understand your frustration, I really can, but it might be better not to be so aggressive in your posts ;-) people will be more likely to listen to you ;-)

Well am in your camp too

thankyou . I spend a lot of time studying the genetic makeup of huskies, starting with the very basics of their ancestrial genome, right through genetic faults and the finer points of coat/eye colour. examine the genetic makeup of a GSD and a Sibe and you will find a HUGE difference.
In terms of evolution, the two breeds may have been domesticated for similar amounts of time, but the selective breeding of GSD traits is far more advanced than the Husky.
German SHEPHERD dogs, were originally herding animals, how many are still capable of a competant level of herding now?. the huskies original purpose was to run, and the vast majority are still more than capable of doing this with very little encouragement and some kennels selectively breed for running build and ability, further enhancing and reinforcing the trait.
The prey drive is also a very stark comparison. Many GSD's will cohabit with small furry things without too much grief, the same cannot be said of most Huskies.

there are a good few professionally qualified dog trainers out there who will back up your example Greyhawk, some, including one at a recent seminar I attended, will give no gaurantee with certain (mostly spitz) breeds and, to be honest, i have little respect for any generic dog specialist, unless they are a HUSKY specialist

I wonder if Helping Hounds thinks a dog aggressive Staffie or any other breed, should be giving his "basic needs" of a fight each day aswell, while he is enjoying his off lead exercise!!!

Yes, it's part of our adoption contract that all our dogs must be exercised for an hour off lead daily, we would not rehome a dog until we ourselves had taught the dog a reliable recall.

I can totally see where your coming from here, I myself am guilty of not doing sled pulling with my dogs on a regular basis :-(

I know I feel so strongly about it I feel the need to educate, but it seems you probably feel exactly the same

In my personal opinion, I feel that keeping a dog on lead all the time prevents good muscle formation and use, joint flexibility, good circulation, may cause sluggish digestion and internal organ workings, [ instinctual belief on those two in particular ], and loss / lack of developement of general fitness and stamina.

I do however consider good longline work [ if any dog of any breed or mix absolutely can not go completely off lead for some reason ], to enable those elements to function properly, as does a dog being able to do its hereditary `job` [ sledding in Huskies for instance ], or its nearest equivalent physical `job/game`.

My view on the health side is rooted in knowing the physical health benefits particularly of Agility dogs, for which I have done research also on other sporting dogs [ for comparative considerations ], and the pros and cons of an activies related physical health effects, [ a negative being many racing Greys having particular skeletal and muscular problems as a direct result of racing for instance ].

I have no problem with dogs being exercised properly on a long line if completely off-lead is a no go for some reason, [ thats the case for one of mine which I have already stated ], but I do strongly believe its far from optimumly healthy for any normal dog to only ever be on a short lead or just a flexi.

If a `worky` Husky is generally walked on a lead and has long-line running at least, plus gets to do a suitable physical activity *as well* with regards to the dogs which have the `drive` to do it then thats ok in the regard of health and precautionary safety for fitness and related health issues imo.

But in a Husky which does`nt get to do sledding or equivalent `because its not in the individual dogs nature` ie no hereditary workiness and prefers to be a couch potato, then do those individual dogs also have the nature to not be able to gain reliable recall if they dont have Breed `drive` anyway ?

For a worky dog with lots of drive to be only ever on standard lead and not even get long line opportunity to run around, that to me would encourage poor physical and mental health to a dog - any dog, any breed.

I would hazard to say, anyone planning on getting a Husky [ trying to keep to the topic but relates to all breeds really ], should consider if they are able to cater for all aspects of the potential physical and mental needs of their dog in such a way as to assume their new dog will have high drive and should therefore ensure they have regular access to large secure areas for free-running and could take up related dog sports / activities for their dogs wellbeing.

If anyone can`t cater for the maximum a dog may need/would clearly benefit greatly from, perhaps they are looking at the wrong breed in the first place.

I`m not trying to get at one side or the other, just trying to consider the differing angles in the spirit of the topic :smt001

Actually these dogs were bred in the 70s to improve bloodlines in dogs!!!! The date of origin in huskies is atiquity! They were bred as draught dogs and only realy domesticated in North America 1909

Harming it mentally. Dogs should be exercised off lead regularly not just for their physical well-being but mental well-being too. It's easy to say the safest thing for a dog is to be kept on lead but is that fair to the dog, No, when you can train the dog a reliable recall and exercise it off lead safely.